The Folio Society has announced a Limited Edition release of Liu Cixin’s science fiction trilogy, branding it “The Three-Body Problem Trilogy.” That title belongs to the first book. Liu Cixin’s own trilogy is called “Remembrance of Earth’s Past.”
The edition launches September 8th at 4pm UK time, restricted to 750 numbered copies. It collects all three novels, The Three-Body Problem, The Dark Forest, and Death’s End, with a new introduction by Liu Cixin, artwork from illustrator Matt Griffin, and signatures from both the author and the illustrator. As of this writing, the page only accepts email signups ahead of the launch.
The naming choice lines up with Netflix’s adaptation, “3 Body Problem,” which debuted in 2024 and has a second season coming. Netflix titled its show after the first novel because that’s the recognizable hook for a mass audience that never read the books. Folio has now done the same thing with the printed trilogy, collapsing three distinct novels under the name of one.
Liu Cixin and the trilogy’s original Chinese publishers never called the series “The Three Body Problem Trilogy.” Readers who know the books catch the substitution instantly. Readers who only know the Netflix show won’t notice, and that’s who Folio appears to be marketing to. A publisher that commissions an introduction from the author and puts his signature on the book knows the correct series title. The choice to use the show’s branding instead is a marketing decision, not an oversight.
This fits a pattern for Folio’s Limited Edition catalog. The company currently runs a banner on its site for its Iain Banks release, The Wasp Factory, noting fewer than 150 copies remain. Folio’s limited runs on genre titles with built-in fandoms and screen adaptations, Frank Herbert’s Dune, Stephen King, George R.R. Martin, tend to move through their print runs on the strength of that pre-existing audience rather than word of mouth after release. A 750-copy run signed by a bestselling author with a Netflix show driving new readers to the source material sets up the same dynamic.
The books themselves are a mild success independent of the show. The Three-Body Problem won the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2015, the first work in translation to do so. Liu Cixin built a readership in China and internationally before Netflix optioned the rights. Folio’s branding choice doesn’t change what’s inside the slipcase. It changes who Folio expects to buy it.
Sign-ups are open now at http://foliosociety.com/uk/three-body-problem-limited-edition-sign-up.
Does a publisher owe readers the correct title of a work it’s charging a premium for, or is show-branding just how genre fiction sells now?
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The specific claim about the Chinese publisher is off, and the real story is a bit funnier.
Chongqing Press registered the sequels under the first book's name themselves. The CIP entries read 三体 (Jan 2008, ISBN 978-7-5366-9293-0), then 三体Ⅱ (May 2008, 978-7-5366-9396-8), then 三体Ⅲ (Nov 2010, 978-7-229-03093-3). Dark Forest and Death's End are registered as San Ti II and San Ti III, with 黑暗森林 and 死神永生 sitting under that as subtitles.
Remembrance of Earth's Past does exist as the series name, but it has always been the recessive one. Chinese readers say 三体 for all three books and always have.
So collapsing three novels under one name did not start with Netflix, and it did not start with Folio. It started with Liu's own publisher in 2008, well before there was a show to chase.
Which doesn't really get Folio off the hook. Your point about who they are marketing to still stands. It just means the branding they copied was the original publisher's, not the show's.
I went ahead an purchased them! Other release I think, but other than that...